Suspended-ceiling hanger for drapery traverse rods



F. L. MEYER 3,198,471

SUSPENDED-CEILING HANGER FOR DRAPERY TRAVERSE RODS Aug. 3, 1965 Filed June 21, 1963 United States Patent 3,198,471 SUSPENDED-CEILING HANGER FOR DRAPERY TRAVERSE RODS Frank L. Meyer, 10603 Stanwin Ave,

Mission Hills, Calif.

Filed June 21, 1963, Ser. No. 289,499 3 Claims. (Cl. 248265) This invention relates to drapery-support apparatus and has as its general object to provide an improved bracket means for supporting a traverse rod from a suspendedtype ceiling.

The conventional method of supporting a traverse rod from the more common type of ceiling (e.g. of lath and plaster) is to attach a hanger bracket to the ceiling by a screw or screws extended through an aperture in a mounting ear of the bracket and screwed directly into the ceiling. In attaching a traverse rod to a suspended type ceiling where acoustical tiles are marginally supported upon horizontal flanges of support beams of inverted T-section, more diflicult problems are encountered, since the acoustical tiles themselves do not provide a satisfactorily strong or firm anchorage, and attachment to the metal support beams requires the difficult and arduous task of drilling and tapping screw holes in the beams. In doing s0, further diiiiculties are encountered in attempting to accurately locate the traverse rod mounting brackets at exactly the right distance from the wall or window frame.

With the general object of providing a more suitable means and method of mounting a traverse rod to a suspended type ceiling, the present invention embraces the iollowing objects:

(1) To provide a rod-suspension bracket apparatus which can be attached to a support beam of a suspended ceiling structure without the necessity for drilling fastener holes in the beam.

(2) To provide a rod-suspension bracket means which can be quickly and easily attached to an acoustical tile support beam.

(3) To provide a rod-suspension bracket means which can be rapidly and easily adjusted with any desired degree of accuracy, to a selected position along the length of .an acoustical tile support beam.

(4) To provide a rod-suspension bracket means which can be quickly secured in the selected position along a tile-support beam.

(5) To provide such a rod-suspension apparatus of relatively simple and inexpensive construction.

(6) To provide a rod-suspension bracket means which can be quickly and easily detached from a tile-support beam is desired.

(7) To provide a rod-suspension bracket means of pleasing appearance when installed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the ensuing specification and appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a suspendedceiling structure with my improved rod-suspension bracket attached thereto, parts being broken away and shown in section so as to more fully disclose the bracket structure;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bracket structure.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference letter A is used therein to generally indicate fragmentary portions of a suspended ceiling structure, and the reference latter B generally designates my improved rod-suspension bracket, in which a traverse rod, indicated in phantom at C, may be mounted.

The suspended ceiling structure A comprises a plurality of acoustical tiles 10 suspended between parallel spaced support beams 11 of inverted T-section, with opposite side portions of the tiles 10 resting upon horizontal flanges 12 at the bottoms of the beams 11. In the installation in a building, the ends of the beam will be mounted or suspended on suitable brackets or hangers which may be of any satisfactory conventional construction and accord-' ingly are not illustrated herein.

My improved rod-suspension bracket apparatus comprises a sectional grapple yoke including arms 15 and 16 arranged in overlapping, longitudinally aligned association, and respective jaws 18 of hook-shape, formed integrally on the respective ends of arms 15, 16; a fastener element 17 for locking the arms 15, 16 to one another in selected positions of extension and retraction; and a hanger element comprising a mounting ear 19 suported by the fastener'element 17, an integral finger 20 extending downwardly from one end of the ear '19, and an integral stirrup 21 curled upwardly from the lower end of finger 20.

The yoke arms, their jaws, and the hanger element 19- 21 are fabricated of stamped sheet metal the thickness of which may be in the range between .060 and .030 inch, sufliciently thin so that the claws 18, interposed between the beam flanges 12 and the acoustical tiles 10, will not noticeably displace the latter upwardly.

Yoke arm 16 has a longitudinal slot 25 therein. Yoke arm 15 is solid except for a tapped screw hole 26. Fastener 17 consists of a short screw the end of which is threaded through the screw hole 26. Screw 17 projects freely through an aperture 27 in hanger ear 19 in which it is freely rotatable. The tip of screw 17 is adapted to engage against the under side of beam 11 with a pressure contact suflicient to draw the jaws 18 tightly against the upper side of flanges 12, thereby locking the hanger yoke to the beam 11, while simultaneously clamping the arm 16 tightly between the ear 19 and the arm 15. Thus, the arms 15, 16 may be locked together after adjusting them so as to bring the jaws 18 into snug embracing engagement with the side margins of flanges 12.

The finger 20 and stirrup 21 are disposed rearwardly of the rear edges of the yoke arms 15, 16, and the vertical axis of screw 17 is spaced sufliciently forwardly of the forward edge of stirrup 21 so as to provide free access to the screw 17 by screwdriver after the curtain rod C has been installed in the stirrup 21. The rod C may be conventionally supported by the hanger 1921, with its lower channel nested in the stirrup 21 and its back web in contact with the forward face of finger 20.

It will now be apparent that by loosening the screw 17, the arms 15, 16 can be pulled apart to a limit of extension determined by the length of slot 25, which is sufficient for the tip of one of the jaws 18 to clear the side margin of a respective flange 12. The bracket is then moved upwardly til-ted sufficiently to hook one of the jaws 18 over a respective flange 12, then shifted laterally until that flange is fully received in the one jaw, then tilted back to a leveled position in which the other jaw has cleared its respective flange and is in a position to be hooked over it, and the yoke arm 15 makes contact with the underside of the flanges. The jaws 18 are then engaged between the fingers and the hanger yoke is squeezed by finger pressure to close it to the point where the jaws are in snug embracing contact with the margins of flanges 12 as in FIG. 2. The bracket is then slid longitudinally along the beam to the exact position of selected spacing from a wall. For example, the bracket B as seen in FIG. 1 could be applied to the beam at the position shown and would then be slid leftwardly toward the leftward end of the beam (not shown) in that figure, thus positioning the open sides of the hanger element and the rod C toward the wall. When the proper position is reached, the screw 17 is tightend while the jaws 18 are subjected to continued finger pressure to maintain snug embracing engagement with the side margins of the flanges, and the arms 15, 16 will then Patented Aug. 3, 1965 be locked together to maintain such snug embracing engagement while the tip of the screw 17 will simultaneously be driven against the underside of the flanges 12 to draw the jaws 18 downwardly into tight engagement with the flanges, thereby securely fastening the hanger yoke to the support beam in the selected position.

I claim:

1. A drapery traverse rod suspension bracket for mounting on a suspended-ceiling panel support beam of inverted T-section including horizontal bottom flanges, said bracket comprising, in combination: a sectional mounting yoite including a pair of arms having, at their remote ends, jaws of hook form adapted to receive the marginal portions of the respective flanges, said arms being arranged in overlapping, longitudinally aligned association, one of said arms having a lonigtudinal slot therein and the other of said arms having a threaded apertureregistering with said slot; a hanger element comprising an ear abutting the underside of said arm having the slot, a finger joined integrally to one end of said ear by a right-dihedral angular bend and projecting downwardly therefrom, and an integral stirrup on the lower end of said finger, spaced below said ear in vertically opposed relation thereto, said ear and stirrup cooperatively defining a claw having proportions, such as to snugly receive a drapery traverse rod of C-section with the back side of the rod engaged against said finger; and a clamp screw extending through said slot, threaded through said aperture and adapted to be tightened against the underside of said support beam, said screw having a head adapted, when the screw is thus tightened against the beam, to engage the underface of said ear and to clamp said arms against said ear and against one another so as to secure said sectional yoke to said support beam and said hanger element to said yoke.

2. A suspension bracket as defined in claim 1, wherein said screw head is disposed outwardly of said traverse rod when the latter is supported in said stirrup.

3. Hanger apparatus as defined in claim 2, wherein said finger projects forwardly beyond said stirrup and wherein said screw is thereby positioned forwardly of said stirrup so as to be easily actuable by a screwdriver passed upwardly past said stirrup.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 844,036 2/07 McMurtrie 248-72 X 919,558 4/09 Doran 248-72 1,670,902 5/28 Popps 24872 2,546,556 3 /51 Miller 248-72 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DRAPERY TRAVERSE ROD SUSPENSION BRACKET FOR MOUNTING ON A SUSPENDED-CEILING PANEL SUPPORT BEAM OF INVERTED T-SECTION INCLUDING HORIZONTAL BOTTOM FLANGES, SAID BRACKET COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: A SECTIONAL MOUNTING YOKE INCLUDING A PAIR OF ARMS HAVING, AT THEIR REMOTE ENDS, JAWS OF HOOK FORM ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE MARGINAL PORTIONS OF THE RESPECTIVE FLANGES, SAID ARMS BEING ARRANGED IN OVERLAPPING, LONGITUDINALLY ALIGNED ASSOCIATION, ONE OF SAID ARMS HAVING A LONGITUDINAL SLOT THEREIN AND THE OTHER OF SAID ARMS HAVING A THREADED APERTURE REGISTERING WITH SAID SLOT; A HANGER ELEMENT COMPRISING AN EAR ABUTTING THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID ARM HAVING THE SLOT, A FINGER JOINED INTEGRALLY TO ONE END OF SAID EAR BY A RIGHT-DIHEDRAL ANGULAR BEND AND PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY THEREFROM, AND AN INTEGRAL STIRRUP ON THE LOWER END OF SAID FINGER, SPACED BELOW SAID EAR IN VERTICALLY OPPOSED RELATION THERETO, SAID EAR AND STIRRUP COOPERATIVELY DEFINING A CLAW HAVING PROPORTIONS SCH AS TO SNUGLY RECEIVE A DRAPERY TRAVERSE ROD OF C-SECTION WITH THE BACK SIDE OF THE ROD ENGAGED AGAINST SAID FINGER; AND A CLAMP SCREW EXTENDING THROUGH SAID SLOT, THREADED THROUGH SAID APERTURE AND ADAPTED TO BE TIGHTENED AGAINST THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID SUPPORT BEAM, SAID SCREW HAVING A HEAD ADAPTED, WHEN THE SCREW IS THUS TIGHTENED AGAINST THE BEAM, TO ENGEGE THE UNDERFACE OF SAID EAR AND TO CLAMP SAID ARMS AGAINST SAID EAR AND AGAINST ONE ANOTHER SO AS TO SECURE SAID SECTIONAL YOKE TO SAID SUPPORT BEAM AND SAID HANGER ELEMENT TO SAID YOKE. 